Van-Far Indians shut out MMA Colonels

Van-Far Indians quarterback Lucas Robinson eludes a tackle and then runs for the first down Friday night at MMA in Mexico. The Indians beat the Colonels 26-0.

On Friday, September 6, the Van-Far Indians invaded the Missouri Military Academy Colonels territory in Mexico for a varsity football game.
In spite of having just 15 young and inexperienced players to MMA’s 45 in pads, the Indians shutout their Audrain County rival 26-0.
“Overall, I was extremely proud of the team’s attitude in facing a team with so many more players,” said Van Far head coach Blake Logan. “We were exhausted throughout the game and kept making stops and coming up with big plays on both sides of the ball to secure the win and the first shutout of any team in the time I have been here.”
MMA won the toss to start the game. The Colonels chose to receive, however couldn’t come up with the ball on the kickoff return. The Indians recovered the ball on the Colonels’ 42-yard line.
Indians running back Trey Hull rushed twice for five yards and quarterback Lucas Robinson added 26 rushing yards on the first drive. With 9:55 left, Sharrod Connor ran the ball in for a touchdown. The extra point was no good and the Indians took the lead 6-0.
On the following kickoff, Van-Far quickly recovered a second squib kick on the 50-yard line. Logan Boyd had three receptions for six yards, Robinson had two carries for seven yards and then completed an eight yard pass to Conner Albrecht.
Albrecht struck again by scoring a 37-yard touchdown with 5:53 left in the first quarter. Robinson dashed into the endzone for the two-point conversion, giving the Indians a 14-0 lead.
MMA tried to add some points to the board but was duped by a penalty, followed by a 16 yard loss that would result in a turnover on downs on their next possession.
Connor started the next Indians’ drive with three yards, then Albrecht was off to the races as he turned a 10 yard pass from Robinson into a 42-yard touchdown. With 1:26 left in the first quarter, the Indians pushed their lead to 20-0.
The Colonels’ second quarter offense came up short resulting in a scoreless first half.
The Indians continued to move forward offensively in the second quarter with the help of Connor rushing for four yards and Robinson with eight. With 15 seconds left in the first half, Robinson fired a 15 yard pass to Hull, resulting in a 56-yard touchdown. At halftime, the Indians led 26-0.
The second half of play was full of various penalties, which prevented either team from making it to the red zone.
Both quarterbacks threw one interception early in the third, but neither team took advantage of the defensive stops.
At one point late in the third quarter, it looked as if MMA had a chance of scoring, but fumbled the ball away.
MMA fumbled the ball five times throughout the game, three of which resulted in Van-Far touchdowns during their time of possession.
With a little under five minutes left in the game, Robinson intercepted an MMA pass. The Colonels would get the ball back, but just couldn’t get past the Indians’ defense.
“Offensively, we did well considering the fact that I had to change many kids to positions they were unfamiliar with after a couple of injuries,” Logan said. “I knew we needed to get ahead and play with the lead so I was pretty aggressive early and the kids executed. Defensively, we had a bend but don’t break mentality as MMA would try to march down field but we were relentless in keeping them from the reaching the endzone. Many younger kids made some good plays and that will be big for their confidence moving forward,” Logan said.
The Indians racked up 167 yards receiving and 115 yards rushing to win the game 26-0 with 282 yards of total offense. Defensively, Kyle Decker led the team with seven solo tackles and one sack. Offensively, Albrecht collected 87 yards with two receiving touchdowns and Hull gathered 76 yards with one touchdown.
Next Saturday, the Indians will travel to Principia High School in St. Louis to play the Panthers on McCandless Turf Field. The Panthers are currently 2-0 in the season and in both of the games, the Panthers scored more than 40 points.

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